Gonna start a revolution

You know what? I’ve been trying to decide what or whom to blog on first, and once I finally decided on the lovely Jem Cooke, I discovered that there’s almost nothing being shared that I can in turn share in the traditional style of music blogs. No tracks to download…no CD to buy…nada. This is the best I can do without being technologically crafty in the illegal sense.

It’s a decent offering, I suppose. But yes, Jem Cooke. What can be said?

I stumbled upon her MySpace page via my occasional exploration of the “Top Artists” browser. (A great way to pick up on the trends that fuel the self promoted internet musician dream.) Her sound intrigues me. I’ll first let her songs play just for background…it’ll be very chill, very acoustic…and then, once I’m no longer paying attention, the sound switches to blues and soul, still very chill, still very acoustic, but with this kick that demands I look back at my web browser to make nothing’s switched up on me.

I’ve been trying to come up with a semi decent comparison without much success. Her MySpace quotes a magazine, “KT Tunstall is the first obvious comparison, the English answer maybe?” but I didn’t get any kind of KT vibe. Her music is somewhat…somewhat like Joss Stone Lite…mixed with Kate Nash’s acoustic guitar covers. Mm…kinda.

Whatever it is, it’s pretty at its calmest and full of soul at its most emotive. It’s good, that’s for sure, but yet to catch the world by storm. She turned down a record deal offer at the age of 17, choosing to carve her own path in the music industry. Nearly 10 years later she’s still writing, recording, and performing, but fans are begging for an album…or at least a mp3 download.

Additional raves and streaming audio can be found here on an offshoot of composer/producer father Dave Cooke’s website.